Positions vacant – Mayor and 10 councillors

If you want to be a serious candidate for Redland City Mayor or councillor, you should be planning your campaign right now.

There are lots of questions to be considered before seeking elected office. In this report Redlands2030 provides some information that may help anyone who is interested to put their name forward.

Why become an elected offical?

There are any number of reasons that you might have for wanting to be elected as a Mayor or councillor. See if one or more of these statements work for you:

I have a craving for power and want to rule the world but will settle for Redlands, for now

I want to be admired/loved by everyone and see my photo in the local paper every week

I can’t think of anything better to do and the money seems OK

I want to do good work for the local community and make Redlands a better place to live

Some real estate developers said that they would support my campaign because I seem like a good person who understands what the community wants

Hint: some of these reasons are not good

Criteria for becoming a councillor

Useful guidance about having a run for Council is set out in a document published by the NSW Government. The fundamental issues of local government are pretty similar whether you live north or south of the Tweed River. This document suggests that skills, knowledge and attributes which are helpful for councillors to have include:

Ethical and accountable behaviour – and a commitment to acting in the best interests of the community as a whole

Some other thoughts on criteria for being a good councillor include:

Have a genuine interest in the community and understand local issues

Be compassionate , understanding, and supportive of people in the community

Be good at listening to people and finding out what they want

Be able to mix with all sorts of people – from primary school kids to the Prime Minister.

Be able to smell a rat, because some people will try to mislead you

Are you the sort of person who will stand up and fight for what you think is important? There are likely to be times during a term in public office when you have to do things that are not easy and not popular. Some people will almost certainly disagree with some things you say and do. They may even say nasty things to you or (more likely) about you. Make sure that you have the guts and strength of character to keep calm and carry on.

If you have trouble sitting quietly in a meeting for an hour or two listening to others talking then maybe the Council needs someone less energetic than you.

Sometimes you may have to deal with people who are difficult, rude, or very upset. This is part of the job and do not expect to get thanked for doing this.

As a good councillor you should have the energy, skill and interest to do your own research on Council issues. It would be silly to trust others whose motives might be more than questionable.

Most effective councillors are heavily involved in community groups and activities. This takes lots of time and effort but ensures that you have a large and effective personal network.

Becoming a councillor

Useful information about becoming a councillor in Queensland is provided on the Queensland Government’s website. This includes:

Conflicts of interest

The Queensland Government provides much information about conflicts of interest, which includes the following statements:

Your fundamental role as a councillor is to serve and represent the interests of your community as a whole. In the event of a conflict between the public and private interests of you or your related persons, the overall public interest must prevail.

You are required to disclose any personal interests which may influence your voting at local government and committee meetings. This includes interests that may result in a gain or loss for you or your related persons.

You are responsible for assessing your own circumstances and determining if you have a material personal interest. You must disclose the interest to the meeting and then leave the meeting room and not take part while the matter is being debated and voted on.

Failure to disclose your material personal interest and leave the meeting is an offence that carries significant penalties including up to two years imprisonment.

If you are likely to have conflicts of interest it might be better to not run for elected office.

Check it out first

Before getting too excited, make sure that this is what you really want to do.

Attend a couple of council meetings and meet with some existing and/or former councillors to find out more about the job of being a Mayor or councillor.

Campaign

If you want to run for Council you will normally have to run a campaign to convince voters that you are the best person for the job. This will take time and money. A realistic budget to become a councillor is $10,000 to $20,000. Of course if you are well known and very popular then maybe you would not have spend so much. To run successfully for Mayor you may need to spend much more.

Campaign funds are typically spent on things like:

Nomination fees

Advertising (flyers, signs with your photo, media advertisements)

Polling booth activities like how to vote cards, t-shirts for your supporters and more signs

Remember to comply with relevant laws about receipt and spending of campaign funds.

3 thoughts on “Positions vacant – Mayor and 10 councillors”

I despair at how some of our sitting councillors will meet the commitments of the key selection criteria at the beginning of this article. Having had recent unpleasant interaction, I can truly say anger management would not go astray as another management tool required for our representatives.

The Ormiston koala tree local residents are still suffering. Currently they are drawing attention to the fact that Council simply accepted as gospel the “briefing notes” from a desk topper as sufficient to enable them justify the removal of koala trees in that approval of the Fiteni development. The same desk top report did not get the address correct and described koala trees simply as hybrids that koalas might traverse. It didn’t pick up on the data from existing koala bodies like Daisy Hill and local KAG.
So for aspiring or existing councillors, you must be aware that due diligence has be done. Check that it is. Don’t necessarily accept what is fed to you. Question officers.
As a councillor you would be aware of what the community values and how to achieve this, not just tick and flick in the interests of the developer.
And don’t just come into Council thinking you have to help fill in every bit of land with houses even if it’s outside the footprint. Start thinking about how we are going to feed ourselves: what couldn’t be grown on so much land!

The campaign begins, I am hoping that we get at least 6 candidates put their hands up. Having some Councillors funded by developers is such an insult to democracy.How can any resident really believe these Councillors are independent in their thoughts, doing a planning scheme with expectations from donors has to be a worry. I recall in 2012 a group CRRA claiming to be representing the community but pushing preferred candidates, they mouthed on about rates, business closing in Cleveland, about lack of financial strategy, no commitment to tourism.
Since the election Mayor Williams, has increased rates especially Raby Bay residents, more business closed down in Cleveland, Mayor Williams adopted the Hobson financial strategy, and stopped funding the Tourism Information centre in Cleveland.
The big question is where has CRRA been in the past 3 years, not a peep from them.
Will we see them raise their ugly head now that there is discussion on Council elections, the planning scheme still in limbo and some hanging on the edge hoping for their golden egg to be laid on their blocks.
Redlands 2030 have listed some important qualities for candidates I am hoping we have great candidates, we already have a few good independent ethical Councillors there now, let’s add to that, Redlands deserve good decision makers